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true wisdom

the time requirement of growing a business (of whatever type you might wish to discuss) is not the same as the time required for running an established business.

Very wise advice indeed.

I would add if you sit down and put a pen and paper to it the income against the amount of capital you have to pour in can be sizeable if you grow fast. If you can work diligently but grow steady you can let the business pay for building itself.

Originally Posted by Allen Martens

As I'm reading through the thread I keep thinking:
You don't want to work harder yourself you want some else to work harder for you.

Problem is most beeks I run across are the independant sort. This is special work, not just anyone will do it and the hours are irregular and seasonal so it's hard to build up a conglomerate bee business and just sit in the office. Years ago I made it a project to read all of Allen Dick's diaries on beekeeping. http://www.honeybeeworld.com/ It is quite an insight into running a big commercial operation. It takes a couple of months to read through it if you take an hour or two every night - aside from the personal trivia that is interesting mainly to people close to Allen, woven through the diary is a pretty good log of what it is like to run a large operation. Broken down trucks, finding people to do extracting (there's the job to hire out), hiring the guy who is as good as two good men who don't show up, dealing with the weather and honey prices. It's interesting - go back to when he was running thousands of hives. Worth the time.

Last edited by wfarler; 03-07-2009 at 07:08 AM.
Reason: because I can

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes"
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

... Years ago I made it a project to read all of Allen Dick's diaries on beekeeping. http://www.honeybeeworld.com/ It is quite an insight into running a big commercial operation. It takes a couple of months to read through it if you take an hour or two every night - aside from the personal trivia that is interesting mainly to people close to Allen, woven through the diary is a pretty good log of what it is like to run a large operation. ...

How many bees

depends more than anything else on how much pasture is available. With good pasture a poor beekeeper can make money. With poor pasture a good beekeeper will struggle. This limits or expands possibilities more than any other factor.

I would think the smart thing is to slowly work up to a number that is workable for your area and how you conduct your operation. It won't be the same for any two beeks.

Originally Posted by Tom G. Laury

depends more than anything else on how much pasture is available. With good pasture a poor beekeeper can make money. With poor pasture a good beekeeper will struggle. This limits or expands possibilities more than any other factor.

these are the 2 answers I like the most, both explain what one will deal with trying to make a living with bee's, the first tells you what your area will produce and how many you can handle, the second tell you why the first will be how you find out!

It's interesting - go back to when he was running thousands of hives. Worth the time.

Thanks. I couldn't agree more with respect to interesting and wealth of information. I read most of diary in real time.

Employees can be a challenge at times, agreed. I have 2-3 three each summer for my honey farm. But the sure help during the busiest times and getting to some of the little jobs that always get push aside -- not necessary bad jobs, just less important jobs.

depends more than anything else on how much pasture is available. With good pasture a poor beekeeper can make money. With poor pasture a good beekeeper will struggle. This limits or expands possibilities more than any other factor.